Villagers clear environment impact report for Jindal steel

Salboni, West Bengal, Aug 17 (UNI) People living in 25 villages around Salboni where the Jindals are setting up their Rs 35000 crore Jindal Bengal Steel Works Limited today endorsed the Environment Impact Assessment Report, prepared by a Hyderabad-based firm.

District Magistrate B P Barat, who was presiding over a public hearing on environment clearance of the project organized by the district administration,later told reporters that all the proceedings in today's meeting were recorded and a report on this will be sent to the ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi.

''Now it is a question of time only for getting the environment clearance from the Government of India and starts the project work,'' he said.

The major part of 3500 acres of government land and 500 acres of private lands had been acquired by the Jindals, he added.

Senior environmental scientist of Vimta Laboratories, Hyderabad, accredited by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Vinod Kumar Chowdhuri told the villagers that the level of air, noise, dust pollution, sulphur oxide level, nitrous oxide level and carbon monoxide level are all much bellow the tolerable limits in the area.

''The latest technology to be adopted in the case of the steel plant by the Jindal's here will increase the pollution level by a maximum of 20 to 30%. But even then these will be well within the tolerable limits,'' Chowdhuri said.

UNI